


La Mia Stella Piccola Amata (My Beloved Little Star)

by TraceofInk



Series: La Mia Stella Piccola Amata (My Beloved Little Star) [1]
Category: NCIS
Genre: DiNozzo with kids, Gibbs with Kids, M/M, Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-14
Updated: 2019-11-14
Packaged: 2021-01-30 22:15:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21435559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TraceofInk/pseuds/TraceofInk
Summary: Tony get's a huge surprise, which will turn his whole life upside down...
Relationships: Gibbs/DiNozzo
Series: La Mia Stella Piccola Amata (My Beloved Little Star) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1545346
Comments: 4
Kudos: 165





	La Mia Stella Piccola Amata (My Beloved Little Star)

**Author's Note:**

> Not bet'ed...

“What do you mean, ‘You are her father?’” he asked, a hint of panic in his voice.

“What do you think it means, Tony?” Sarah asked harshly, and pointed at the child currently sleeping in a stroller beside their table. “As you can surely remember, we had an affair a few months ago.”

Tony winced.

“I remember,” he said and lifted his tea cup, only to set it down again.

“Walter said he would give me another chance,” Sarah explained. “Even after the results of the paternity test came back and he knew for sure what I'd done to him. The only condition is that I- that I-” Sarah squared her shoulders and took a deep breath. “The time with you was the best in a very long time. You've been everything I wanted Walter to be, but Walter... he and I went through a lot together and I can't just leave him.”

“You could, if you wanted to,” Tony said, and saw Sarah nod curtly.

“You are right, but the thing is… I don't want to,” she said. “He can give me so much, Tony. All the things I’ve ever wanted.” She placed a manila folder on the table in front of Tony. “He'll forget everything, but I’ve got to give her up.”

Sarah stood up.

“Wait-” Tony extended his hand as if to touch her but before he could make contact with her, he let his arm fall again.

“I can't, Tony. I'm sorry,” Sarah slipped into her coat. “That folder contains all the documents you'll need. I've signed off on everything already. You just need to get into contact with a lawyer and fill out the remaining ones.“

“That's it?” Tony asked when Sarah turned to leave. “Nothing else?”

“What do you want me to say, Tony?” Sarah turned back again. “She's the result of a mistake and even though I know you'll hate me for the rest of our life, I don't regret giving her away to save my hide.”

Tony stared at her, wide eyed, before he chuckled angrily. “Wow, you're a heartless bitch.”

Sarah shrugged, “Nothing really wrong with that.”

Tony watched her go with a pounding heart, too angry to move. He simply sat there and watched people walk around him.

The small bundle in the stroller suddenly whimpered softly, and Tony started to sweat.

What should he do?

Everyone just knew he wasn't any good with children...

+*+

Gibbs had just stepped out of the NCIS Headquarters to get his much-needed coffee fix, when DiNozzo called him.

“You're late, DiNozzo,” Gibbs growled, and frowned when he heard a screaming baby through the phone.

“I need the rest of the day off, boss,” Tony said in a rush, and Gibbs could hear someone saying something, that Tony answered with an “Can't you see? I'm doing the best I can.”

“What's going on?” Gibbs asked.

“I... boss... I…,” stammered Tony, and then he sighed before he said, “I'm in deep shit, boss.”

+*+

“Honey,” a calm female voice said from behind Tony's chair. “Your baby is hungry and will probably need some clean diapers, too.”

Tony turned around to look at a dark skinned woman who appeared to be in her early sixties; she had some grey strands in her raven hair and more than a few wrinkles on her face.

“I-” Tony started and realized, not for the first time today, that he was more than a little lost.

“Would be a good start to have a look in that bag,” the woman said calmly, and pointed to 

the bag sitting right beside the stroller.

Tony nodded and lifted the heavy bag, opened it, and found a bottle filled with a white, powdery substance. It gave him an uneasy feeling for a moment, when his mind flashed back to his incident with the plague.

“You okay, honey?” the woman asked, and Tony saw that she had lifted the baby out of the stroller and was holding it with all the practice of a mother.

“You've done that before, right?” Tony asked, and the woman snorted before she smiled proudly.

“You could say that,” she answered. “I've got six children and twelve grandchildren.”

“Sounds like you know what needs to be done then,” the young man watched how the woman started to sway softly from one side to the other.

“My name is Martha by the way,” the woman extended her right hand for him to shake.

“I'm Tony, Tony DiNozzo,” replied Tony, and he looked a little helplessly at the bottle he still held in his other hand.

“You need to fill the bottle with hot water and shake it, so that the powder dissolves,” Martha explained.

She took the bottle out of his hands when she saw his puzzled look, and held it out to a bored looking waitress. “Can I get some hot water, please?”

“You have a look on your face just like my youngest boy when he had to hold his first baby,” Martha said, and before Tony was even able to blink she had thrust the baby into his arms. “You need to hold her like this,” she placed one of his hands against the back of the baby's head and the other against her back. “See, it’s not hard. Now relax, she won't bite or break-”

“Easy for you to say,” Tony remarked, a hint of panic on his face.

  
  


“DiNozzo,” Gibbs' voice cut off whatever Martha wanted to say next, and the older woman frowned at the new arrival.

“Hey boss,” Tony greeted in a whisper and with a slight, even if tortured, smile on his face, not even pretending to be surprised about the fact that Gibbs appeared behind them only 

some moments after he'd ended the call.

“What's this, DiNozzo?” Gibbs asked. “Some kind of family reunion?”

Tony flinched before he nodded curtly.

Martha chose that moment to clear her throat. She was clearly not amused, and glared at 

Gibbs with hard brown eyes.

“I'm sorry, Martha.”

Those three words did a hell of a lot for the woman, because her eyes softened again and she actually smiled at the young man, “It's alright, honey.” She turned to Gibbs and thrust her hand out, “My name is Martha Sheridan, and you are?”

Gibbs smirked before he shook her hand, “Leroy Jethro Gibbs, Ma'am.”

“Cut the Ma'am- crap, boy. I've never been a woman who pretended to be someone important. You can call me Martha like everyone else does,” she said and pulled a chair out and sat next to Tony.

Gibbs nodded in confirmation.

“My Archie was a Marine, too,” the woman said conversationally, and Tony watched her eyes go distant. “He died a few years back.”

“I'm sorry,” Tony replied automatically, his eyes widening in surprise when the waitress came back with the bottle which Gibbs accepted.

The older man frowned at it for a moment before he started to shake it vigorously.

Martha grinned knowingly, before she patted Tony's shoulder and stood, “I think you're in capable hands now, honey.”

“Thank you, Martha,” Tony couldn't help the surge of panic, when he saw that the old woman was getting ready to leave.

“You're welcome, and if you need some help or friendly advice, I'm always around here. Just ask for Martha and you'll get pushed into the right direction,” Martha nodded over to Gibbs and smiled when he nodded back at her. “Gentlemen.”

  
  


Gibbs stopped shaking the bottle and waited a few heartbeats, before he tested the temperature of the milk.

“Care to tell me how you came into possession of a baby, DiNozzo?”

“Well- you see-” Tony started and Gibbs waited a moment, before he motioned to the young man to hand the baby over to him .

“I-I can't,” Tony shook his head.

“Why the hell not?” Gibbs asked.

“I'm afraid that I'll break her when I move,” Tony admitted and bit his lower lip.

Gibbs barked out a laugh, which made Tony jump and elicited a small whimper from the baby. “Hell, DiNozzo. It's a baby, not some delicate china.”

“Yeah, well,” Tony blushed. “It's not like I've had much contact with babies, boss.”

“Okay, okay, DiNozzo,” Tony could feel Gibbs moving to sit beside him. “Just move slow for now and keep that hand under that head.”

Gibbs felt a sudden pain in his chest when Tony moved the small body in slow motion in his direction, and had to swallow heavily.

The rose colored hat on the tiny head and the small body clad in a white jumper reawakened some deep buried memories in him.

“What's the story?” Gibbs asked softly, and smiled when he took the baby in his arms.

“I,” Tony cleared his throat. “I met a woman a few months ago-”

'Shocking,' Gibbs thought and watched for a moment how the little girl in his arms took the bottle.

“It lasted for a few weeks. I broke it off when she admitted to me that she was actually married,” Tony took a sip of his now-cold tea, and grimaced in distaste.

“You broke it off?” the older man asked, the disbelief clearly detectable in his voice.

“Hell, boss,” Tony whispered harshly. “I'm not a home-wrecker and I would have never started to date her in the first place, if I had known that she was married.”

“Okay, so what happened next?”

“I never had any contact with her until she called the day before yesterday, to ask me if I would have time to meet her today. She said that her husband had found out about us, that this baby would be mine and that she didn't want to leave the life she's living for a baby she not even wanted in the first place. She left a folder,” he pointed at the manila envelope on the table. “She said I would have to sign some papers and contact my lawyer, and that she didn't want to have anything more to do with her.”

“Jeez,” Gibbs’ voice was soft, but left no doubt about it that he wasn’t happy about what he’d learned just now. “Why the hell can’t you meet someone nice once in a while, DiNozzo?”

Tony flinched again, not sure how he was supposed to answer that.

  
  


Gibbs had used the time when the baby fed to have a look into the folder.

Elisabeth DiNozzo.

Elisabeth.

Not a name he would have picked, but okay.

He wondered why the baby was already named after her father and not after the woman who had given birth to her, but that wasn’t something worth investigating right now.

He thought about the younger man and his way of living, which reminded him-

“Your heater still broken, DiNozzo?”

Tony’s eyes met his for a moment, before the younger man shrugged and stared at the baby... his baby.

“Guess I’ll need a Motel. No way that Abby’ll let me stay over with a baby in tow.”

“Abby?” Gibbs shifted the now sleeping weight in his arms to stand up from his chair. “You slept at Abby’s?”

“Well yes,” Tony answered, a little offended. “I had to sleep somewhere.”

Gibbs remembered how Tony had asked the team for help and how everyone had turned him down and flinched when he remembered his harsh rebuke when the younger man had asked him for help.

Well, time to make it up, Gunny.

“Grab your stuff,” he ordered and rose from his chair. The baby made a noise of protest at the sudden movement, but settled down when Gibbs patted its bottom lovingly before he glared over at DiNozzo, who was still sitting at the table, with a look of sheer disbelieve on his face.

“What are ya waiting for?”

“I- I- I'm not sure, boss,” Tony admitted. 

“Sure? About?”

Tony laughed harshly. “Can you really see me and a baby? I- I- I mean, really? Look, I can't even care for a freaking cactus properly and now I have to care for a fucking mini- me.”

“DiNozzo-”

“No, really,” DiNozzo interrupted and stared at the baby in Gibbs' arms. “I'm no father material, Gibbs. I'm sure I'll never be even remotely useful to babysit a kid, let alone to raise one-”

Gibbs couldn't take it anymore and with practice learned by years working with his senior field agent, who was currently freaked beyond belief, he stopped the younger man's rambling with a head-slap.

Tony stopped in surprise and took a deep breath, “Thanks boss.”

“Ya welcome,” Gibbs replied and turned to the exit. “Let's go.”

They only had to walk for a few minutes to get back to the Navy Yard and their cars and Tony watched all the way back how very at home Gibbs appeared to be with a baby... his baby in his arms.

His heart started to beat faster.

“Something wrong, DiNozzo?” Gibbs asked.

When had they stopped walking?

“I do- don't know, boss,” Tony answered truthfully. “I-”

“DiNozzo,” Gibbs growled exasperated. “Stop worrying.”   
  


“I can't, boss,” Tony sighed deeply and ran a hand over his face, shook his head and shrugged.

“I'll need some stuff-”

Gibbs growled irritated about the sudden change of topic before he realized how right Tony was.

“Yeah,” Gibbs gave a curt nod and went over to Tony and the stroller. The baby was deeply asleep and Gibbs felt how his arm started to tingle with the strain of holding the small body. “Think what's in the bag won't keep ya for too long.”

The baby whimpered and Tony could feel with her. If he could pick a place to sleep, he'd rather choose Gibbs' arms himself instead a cold and lonely bed.

He sighed and flinched when he was pinned by a set of hard, blue eyes.

+++

Tony watched with a lot of mixed feelings how Gibbs helped security to search the stroller, while he himself held his daughter in his arms and was swinging slightly from one side to another.

First he'd tried to help, but his inexperience with babies and stuff related had made him more of a hindrance than a help until Gibbs had given him the baby to hold and ordered him to, “Just stand over there and don't move, DiNozzo, or I swear I'll head-slap ya into the next century.”

“Gotcha, boss,” he'd answered and made funny faces at the baby, ignoring the fact that the baby was still asleep. 

“Wow, Tony,” Kate's voice coming from behind him startled him. “I know you like them young, but isn't that, like, a little too young even for you?”

“Cute, Kate,” Tony replied sarcastically. 

“So,” Kate extended a hand to touch the baby's head and her eyes widened in surprise when Tony moved the baby out of her reach. “Who do we need to call to-”

“The director,” Gibbs barked from where he was standing beside Bob, the security man. 

“Boss?” Kate asked confused and watched how Gibbs came over to them.

“Call the director, Kate,” Gibbs explained. “Tell him we need to talk to him in his office asap.”   
  


*WE?* Tony's eyes widened and he started to open his mouth to say something, anything, to convince his boss that he wouldn't need- hell, who was he kidding?

+*+*

Gibbs grinned when Morrow gasped and let himself fall into the chair behind his desk.

“Sure it's yours?” the man asked and frowned when Tony shrugged.

“Yeah,” Tony nodded. “The timing matches and-”

“She said so?” Morrow asked kindly and stood up again to go over to his wet bar.

“Yeah, something like that.”   
  


“We should do a test,” Morrow said and placed a glass in front of each man. “Mrs. Sciuto can do one-”   
  


The Director watched how Gibbs pulled a folder out of the bag on the stroller.

“She left some papers,” the Senior Agent explained and Morrow accepted the folder and went over to his desk.

He pressed a button on the intercom, “Cynthia?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Give Legal a call. I need Peterson up here as soon as possible.”

“Of course, sir.”   
  


“And please call Mrs. Sciuto-”   
  


“Actually, sir. Mrs. Sciuto is standing right in front of me.”

“She is? Well, sent her in then.”

  
  


“Tony. Tony. Tony-” Abby burst through the door and stopped dead in her tracks at the sight in front of her.

There he was, the man she'd been worried about all day, holding a small bundle in his 

arms.

“Tony?” she asked hesitantly and cast a confused look over to Gibbs and the Director.

“Hey Abbs,” Tony greeted and tried to hide his nervousness behind a mask of coolness.

“Who's that?” Abby asked and reached out to get a better look on the sleeping baby.

“Elisabeth,” Gibbs answered from where he stood beside the Director. “Elisabeth DiNozzo.”   
  


“Really? Like in Really really?”

“More real than I would like,” Tony grinned and sighed when Abby placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

  
  
  


Kate tried to concentrate on the reports she still had to do, but realized that her mind kept wandering upstairs.

Damn, she hated riddles like that...and suddenly she wished that McGee wouldn't be in Chicago anymore, but here, brainstorming about what went on with DiNozzo and Gibbs and that baby.

Gibbs had taken control over the situation as soon as DiNozzo, Abby and the baby had disappeared out of the door.

“We need some days off,” he stated.

“We, Gibbs?” Morrow asked a little baffled. “Is there something I need to be aware of?”

“Not yet,” Gibbs shrugged and smiled slightly.

  
  


Abby steered Tony into her office and closed the glass doors, “So, Mister-”

“Abbs, please,” Tony pleaded. “Let me explain, before you jump to conclusions, alright?”

“So,” Abby moved her hand. “Start, and don't leave anything out, ya hear?”

“I've met her a- a year ago. We've clicked almost instantly and I- well, I-” Tony made a helpless noise in the back of his throat. “I thought, maybe I could- forget about- and- and just be, ya know, happy.”

“Tony,” Abby sighed. “You, of all people, should know that it doesn't work that way.”

He appeared to be lost for a moment, startled somehow, before he nodded.

“I broke it up with her, when she told me about her hubby waiting at home,” Tony explained without looking at the goth. Knowing that one look at her now, would be his downfall. 

“And little Liz here,” Abby pointed at the now sleeping infant in Tony's arms.

“The result of that- well- affair,” Tony nodded helplessly and whispered. “I don't know if I can do this, Abby.”

“Don't be silly, Tony,” Abby sighed and grinned. “You're awesome and we're all here to help.”

The young woman bounced over to one of the desks and retrieved some swaps.

“You know the drill, honey,” she smiled and stepped up to DiNozzo. “Open wide-”

***

Morrow laughed loudly and pointed over to the couch.

“Care to share a little more?” he asked and refilled his glass.

“Hell, Tom,” Gibbs growled. “Do I really have to?”

“No,” the director shook his head. “But I would really love to hear it.”

***

Tony watched the baby in his arms sleep and sighed.

What does a baby need?

Some bottles?

Diapers?   
  


Milk?

What else?

  
  


“Tony?” Abby's voice cut through his thoughts. “You okay?”

*Hell no,* Tony shook his head curtly and tried to smile bravely, even when he didn't feel that way right then.

“Awww,” Abby crooned and went over to the younger agent. “Tell me what you're thinking, hun.”

“What would Bruce Wayne do?” Tony grimaced when he saw Abby frown. “Sorry, not my best-”   
  


“Well d'uh,” Abby snorted and waved with a free hand. “You'll do whatever you'll need to do and you'll be great in it.”

“You're awful confident, Abbs,” Tony grinned and startled a little at a noise coming from behind them.

Kate stood in the door, uncertain about her welcome but unable to stay away nonetheless.

“Kate,” Abby greeted exuberantly and jumped up from her chair to greet the agent.

  
  


+#+

“You know the rules about fraternization, right?” Morrow asked and hid his smile behind his glass when Gibbs glared at him. “Come on, Gibbs. I'm just teasing.”

“It's not funny,” growled Gibbs and placed his glass on Morrow's desk and opened his mouth to say something, when Cynthia's voice interrupted.

“Sir? Agent Peterson-”

Morrow turned professional again and pressed a button on the intercom, “Sent him in, Cynthia.”

+#+

Half an hour later found Gibbs reaching the door to Abby's lab and listening in to the discussion there.

  
  


“No,” Tony's voice, angry. “I don't know what a baby needs or don't need, Kate, but I'm sure-”

“You're sure?” Gibbs frowned at the sound of Kate's voice. Hard and cutting, she needed to watch out, or her relationship with Tony could be damaged forever.

“You're a playboy, DiNozzo. The typical skirt-chasing macho, someone who loves and leaves them, than to stay and face the consequences, so I don't think you're really able to raise a child-”

Gibbs heard something break and Abby's shocked gasp was enough to get him moving.

He stepped through the door just in time to see how Tony moved away from Abby's desk, where the shards of a broken glass lay and a thin rivulet of water mixed with blood dripped to the floor from.

“Let me see your hand, DiNozzo,” Gibbs' growled voice surprised the three and they flinched in surprise.

Kate even had the grace to flush a little, knowing that their boss must have heard some of what she said just a moment ago.

“Gibbs,” she tried and was cut off with just a glare.

“DiNozzo,” Gibbs extended his hand and waited silently for his second in command to obey.

Tony sighed. There just was no way he could refuse Gibbs, even in things like this and he extended his hand with a resigned slump of his shoulders.

Abby, who had tried to reason with Kate until Tony broke his glass, had grabbed her first aid kit and stood just out of reach of the two men, knowing that Tony needed to be handled by Gibbs until his anger evaporated somewhat to see reason again. 

Gibbs turned Tony's hand slowly and frowned at the cuts before he nodded over at Abby, who stepped up to them.

Kate snorted loudly, but flinched when Gibbs turned a little to glare at her.

“Get lost, Todd,” he ordered in a sharp voice while he picked a pair of tweezers up to clean the wounds and listened to her steps until she has reached the elevator, before he talked again.

“Peterson confirmed the correctness of the documents she’s given you,” he laid the tweezers aside and grabbed some gauze. “We’ve got to wait until the tests are back, then we’ll have to go to your lawyer and a judge to sign those papers and she’ll be yours.”   
  
  


“I-” Tony sighed and nodded. “Kate’s right, boss. I-”

The headslap was hard but not unexpected, but the hold on his neck was and the squeeze made his heart jump.

“You’ll learn, DiNozzo,” Gibbs whispered into his ear. “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.”

Tony chuckled,” You’re quoting Lao Tzu on me?”

“Well, if the shoe fits,” Gibbs grinned and Tony lost himself into those steel blue eyes and his body started to move itself nearer to the older man.

  
  


Abby forgot to breath and started to scream inwardly, “YES, YES, YES!”

  
  


Their lips met tentatively, warm and tender. They’ve lost themselves until a loud squeal made them jump apart.

“Shit,” Tony cursed and smiled ruefully at Gibbs. “You’ve made me forget where we are, b- Gibbs.”

Abby had tried to suppress the sound of joy, but the squeal had worked itself free and she berated herself for he thoughtlessness when little Elizabeth was shocked awake from it and started to cry.

“Sorry,” she apologized and turned to move over to where the baby was now squirming on her cot, but Gibbs could move fast when he wanted to and he reached the little one first.

Tony couldn’t hear what the older man said to the baby, but it must have been magic because Elizabeth quietened immediately and was lifted from the cot to be held against Gibbs’ chest.

Abby punched him on the arm and he turned reluctantly his attention to the goth beside him.

“You’re perfect for each other,” she smiled while saying that and jumped up and down. “Aaaand you’re so hot together.”

“Grab the stroller, DiNozzo,” Gibbs ordered and pressed a kiss to Abby’s cheek when he moved past her. “We’re out of here.”

“Sorry Abby,” Tony smiled shyly and complied. “Why the sudden departure, boss?” he asked when he caught up with Gibbs at the elevator.

Gibbs grinned,”this little girl needs some food and we’ll need to do some shopping,” he watched how DiNozzo’s shoulders fell some, before he added,”and I want to do some more kissing-”

“Only kissing?”

“What do you think?”

“Mmmh,” DiNozzo smirked. “Do you really want to know what I’m thinking?”

Gibbs growled low in his throat, moved into the elevator and glared at DiNozzo while he patted Elizabeth’s back lovenly.

“Don’t let me take the stairs, boss,” DiNozzo pleaded and Gibbs barked a soft laugh and shook his head.

“Don’t be foolish, DiNozzo, move it.”

  
  



End file.
